


Compassion

by dirty_hippie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 13:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17623232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirty_hippie/pseuds/dirty_hippie
Summary: Draco is struggling with the task appointed to him by Voldemort. Hermione catches him alone one night in an empty classroom, looking for someone to tell off. What happens next couldn't be further from what she intended





	Compassion

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy!

Hermione was walking down a third-floor corridor, deep in thought. Harry still insisted that that potions book was harmless and “Won-Won’s” newfound interest in Lavender Brown was downright sickening. All in all, she wasn’t too happy with her best friends these days.

As she turned the corner, she heard a loud bang in one of the classrooms ahead. The door was standing ajar and she caught a flash of silver blond hair through the crack. What was Malfoy doing alone in a deserted classroom? Normally, she wasn’t the type to invade other people’s private business, leaving the eavesdropping and spying to Harry. Today, however, she was in a particularly black mood and fancied finding someone to tell off.

She moved silently towards the classroom door, holding her breath. Spying through the crack between door and doorjamb, she saw Malfoy standing with his back to her, his fists clenched around the edge of the teacher’s pulpit, breathing heavily. One of the front row desks was lying on its side on the ground.

She opened the door and took a deep breath, ready to fire off a sharp remark, when she stopped dead. Malfoy, hearing her, had spun around, and the pain and anguish in his eyes made all her anger melt away.

“What are you doing here, Mudblood? Potter and Weasel let you wander around alone?”, he lashed out at her. But instead of the usual contempt he showed for her, his attack reminded her of a wounded animal, keeping potential further harm at bay.

She stepped into the room and shut the door, leaning her back against the wood. “Are… are you ok?”, she asked him hesitantly, her compassion overriding her dislike.

“Fine, mind your own business”, he snapped back.

She looked at him, reluctantly staying where she was.

“What do you want, Granger?”, Malfoy snarled, when he saw she had no intention of moving. He took a step towards her, fixing her with a menacing glare.

“You… you look like…”, she stammered, her sentence trailing off into nothingness. She took in his pale, pointy face, thinner and whiter than usual, the dark purple circles under his eyes and that hurt, desperate look he was hiding beneath his glare.

He took another threatening step. “Like what?”

She took a deep breath and straightened up, gathering back her confidence. “Like hell, Malfoy. You look like you have been through hell.”

“Why do you care?” He looked away from her.

“I don’t know”, she answered quietly.

He looked at her for a few seconds, then suddenly spun around and slammed his fist into the blackboard, hard. When he removed it, she saw a dark smear of blood on the black.

She rushed towards him, covering half the distance, then stopping again, still torn between her habit of disliking him and her urge to help. He looked up at her, his head bent, cradling his injured hand, nothing but fear and pain in his eyes this time. Then he collapsed onto his knees.

She closed the remaining distance between them and dropped onto the floor beside him, stretching out a hand to touch him. He cowered away from her against the wall, but she just moved forward more deliberately, seating herself next to him and putting a comforting hand on his arm. He sat, back against the wall and knees hugged up to his stomach, and looked straight ahead, avoiding her gaze. Then, his lip trembling, he slowly dropped his head onto her chest and started crying.

She wrapped one arm around his thin, shaking body and with the other cradled his head into her chest, and whispered softly into his hair. “It’s ok, everything is going to be ok, you’re going to be just fine.”

They stayed like that for a long time, Malfoy sobbing, Hermione comforting, and gradually, he calmed. Only the occasional hiccup wracked him now, and he lifted his head and wiped the tears from his eyes. His face hardened, and he glanced at her.

“Not a word of this to anyone”

She nodded mutely, stood up, and reached out a hand to help him up. He stood inches from her for a moment, looking down at her with conflict written all over his face, then brushed a stray curl off her face and breathed, “Thank you, Hermione.” Then he spun on his heel and disappeared through the door.

“You’re welcome, Draco”, she whispered into the silence.


End file.
